Seven Mitski Lyrics That Will Make You Yearn Desperately for the Touch of Another Human Being, Literally Anyone, Oh My God I’m So Lonely

Singer-songwriter and critically acclaimed indie darling Mitski has garnered tremendous praise for her ability to capture complex shades of human connection and isolation in song. While she is, without a doubt, one of the greatest musicians of our generation, a Mitski album is an emotional reckoning of unparalleled intensity and brutality. A Mitski album should come with a warning. Spotify should redirect you to your local depression hotline if you attempt to stream Puberty 2 more than twice in a seven-day period.

Mitski is aware of this.

So, with all that in mind, here are the top seven Mitski lyrics that will make you yearn for the lost warmth of human intimacy and companionship.

Texas is a land-locked state
It’s a little bit far away from the waterFrom the home that I’ve wanted to makeIt somehow, in the city, you make it thereAnd you make it anywhere, anywhereBut I’ve been anywhere and it’s not what I wantI want to be still with you

“But wait,” you might say. “These are lovely lyrics that certainly make me miss the simple joy of human intimacy and companionship, but Texas isn’t a land-locked state.”

Mitski is aware of this, which is why she clarified that she wasn’t going for geographical accuracy as much as… oh. The warmth of human intimacy and companionship, for which we all yearn desperately.

I want a love that falls as fast as a body from the balcony
And I want to kiss like my heart is hitting the ground

There are times when I’ve been single for a while and I develop a big ol’ crush on someone I know isn’t good for me, but like, she’s so cute, and she’s so funny, and she’s so smart. And in those situations, there’s one side of my brain that wants to heed the warning signs, protect my heart, and proceed with caution – if I proceed at all.

The other side listens to Bury Me at MakeoutCreek, remembersmy desperate yearning for the warmth of human intimacy and companionship, and thinks, “Wow. Same. I do want a love that falls as fast as a body from the balcony. I do want to kiss like my heart is hitting the ground.”

Oh if you’re going, take the trainSo I can hear it rumble, one last rumbleAnd when you go, take this heartI’ll make no more use of it when there’s no more you

“Happy” is a deceptive title, because this song is actually about Mitski personifying the concept of happiness as a fairweather lover who leaves before sunrise as you stare out your bedroom window at the above-ground subway tracks and sigh little white clouds into the cold night air and yearn, desperately, for the warmth of human intimacy and companionship.

Holding hands under the tableMeeting up in your bedroomMaking love to other peopleTelling each other it’s all goodKisses like pink cotton candyTalking to everyone but meI’m staying up late just in case You come up and ask to leave with me

This song is for when you’re definitely way more invested than the other person but you’re so desperate with yearning for the warmth of human intimacy and companionship that you don’t want to risk losing them completely by asking for a deeper commitment so you just kind of :).

This is the point in “Your Best American Girl” where you’re still sobbing from the first chorus and just when you think you could not possibly be crying any harder, she lays this one on you.

This song, like many Mitski songs, is a love song, but it’s a love song about “loving someone so much, and yet being from completely different backgrounds and not being able to do anything about it. You watch movies where the couple loves each other so much but can’t be together because of their fate or whatever, and when I was younger I thought that was so stupid… But then as I got older, it’s like, ‘Oh, I see.’ Sometimes life or your backgrounds just kind of get in the way, and there’s nothing you can really do about it.”

So, there you go. Sometimes you find the warmth of human intimacy and companionship and you just have to let it go, because your partner’s mother doesn’t approve of the way your mother raised you. Because your partner is trying to slot you into a narrative you don’t belong in. Because a million things. Life is hard. Love is hard. It’s all hard!

I don’t need the world to seeThat I’ve been the best I can beBut I don’t think I could stand to beWhere you don’t see me

You know the show Adventure Time? And how they have those two characters, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen, who are deeply in romantic love? And how the network won’t let them be upfront about it? So they have to write a bunch of plotlines where Bubblegum and Marceline just pine for each other and yearn for the warmth of human intimacy and companionship? Or, I don’t know, bubblegum intimacy? Vampire companionship? Whatever.

Guess which song the showrunners of Adventure Time chose to soundtrack this tragic love story.

Okay. Take a second to absorb that. Read it over. Take it in. Really think about it.

Now, are you ready for the kicker?

Someone once asked Mitski who she wrote these lyrics about – and I can’t find the interview or the tweet for the life of me, I’m so sorry. And do you know what she said? Do you know who Mitski wrote these lyrics for?

Herself. She said that “I Will” is a love song to herself. She wrote the words that she would want to hear from a future lover.

You know what? There is a lesson here. The warmth of human intimacy and companionship is nice and all, but loving yourself? Believing in your own inherent worth? Refusing to settle for anything less than what you deserve? Even better. So write your own damn love songs to your own damn self.

Thank you, Mother Mitski, for guiding us on this emotional journey.

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Published by Peyton

Peyton is a 25-year-old from Canada. When they're not posting absolute balderdash on this website, they're a novelist and a contributing writer for Vanity Fair, the Atavist, and other places. Twitter: @silkspectres
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